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Croatia’s Best Festivals

Europe has always been known for its music festivals with Tomorrowland in Belgium the most famous of them all.

Festival fever has now spread as far as Croatia, and the Dalmatian Coast now attracts hoards of music lovers every summer.

If you love festivals, this party destination in the Balkans is the place to dance in your swimwear. Croatia offers an impressive resume of party islands and top DJ’s that will leave you on a party high.

Although it's famous for electronic festivals, you’ll find other genres too. Here’s my guide to Croatia’s best festivals.

Soundwave

Running for more than seven years, Soundwave Croatia offers a mix of soul and drum and base.

What makes this festival so special is its open cinema experience showcasing the best of Croatia.

Plus the festival in 2015 attracted not only music artists but mural artists from across Europe as they transformed the festival site into pieces of art. Soundwave offers more than just music.

Sonus Festival

Not content with just one night of festivities, Sonus Festival on Pag Island offers a techno party scene over five nights with boat parties and open air clubs to dance to your heart’s content.

The boat parties leave from Novalja and allow you to party hard while watching the sunset across the sea.

Sonus is possibly Croatia’s largest techno music festival and is typically held every August.

The coast of the party island of Hvar (photo: Daniel Newcombe)

Croatia Rocks

Another five-day festival is Croatia Rocks held on Zrce Beach each July.

Although its title may be slightly misleading with DJs such as Rudimental headlining the 2015 event, you'll still find English indie rock bands such as The Vaccines and Shura, another British singer with the sounds of soft rock.

Ultra Europe

Ultra Europe promises the best talent in electronic music with DJs such as Armin van Buuren, Dash Berlin, and Tiesto.

An outdoor music festival that attracts more than 150,000 festival-goers, Ultra Europe is held across the world in cities such as Seoul and Manila and comes to Split in Croatia in July.

INMusic Festival

INMusic Festival has more mainstream acts such as the Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand. It's a camping festival held on Youth Island near Zagreb.

If you don’t make it in time for one of the larger festivals, there are plenty of others to keep you occupied. Choose from The Garden Festival, Fresh Island Festival, Electric Elephant, and aptly named “Stop Making Sense.”

Hvar

Plus, for those for just prefer a night out without the cost of a festival ticket, the island of Hvar is where it’s at with a long strip of bars and clubs with no entrance fee. It's ideal for a bar or club crawl.

They even have a tiny party island with the nightclub reachable by water taxi.

With most of the festivals being held from July through the beginning of September, pre-book your ticket and flight to make sure you don’t miss out on your favourite festival.

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About Lisa Eldridge

Lisa Eldridge is a travel journalist specialising in solo travel. Her background in the travel industry fuelled her passion to see the world and for the last seventeen years, she has travelled extensively as a solo traveller, living and working in numerous countries. She has now been to 100 countries and 60 of these solo.